Developers queue up to launch mid-income houses in Dubai

Competition in Dubai’s mid to lower-end income housing market is heating up with Al Mazaya Holding, a regional real estate developer, entering the market with Q Line, a mid-income housing project, in its Dh2.6 billion Queue Point master development in Liwan, Dubailand.

“We believe in the UAE [property] market and we are catering to the medium- to low-income housing. It is a promising segment for developers and there is demand for such housing,” company Group CEO Ibrahim A Al Soqabi told ‘Emirates24/7’.

“We have a prime location compared to other mid-income housing projects.

Those who have launched are a bit far away… it is raw land.

You can go to our project and live in our apartments.”

Prices for studio apartments range from Dh350,000, while the average price being Dh750 per square foot.

This website had reported earlier that studio units in a project in Dubai Investments Park were soon to be launched for Dh290,000, while some had announced payment plans post-handover of units.

Q Line, comprising four buildings with 500 units, will be completed in 2017, with the developer looking to complete Queue Point by early 2016.

The 52-residential building development, inspired by San Francisco's urban structure, was originally launched in 2007, but progress slowed down post the global financial crisis and slump in the emirate's property market.

The company claims 80 per cent of the residential units have been sold out.

Al Soqabi said, ‘price and location’ still remained the prime decision-making factors for investors, but they were also looking at payment plans, amenities and developer’s reputation.

Rashid Al Nafisi, Chairman, of Al Mazaya Holding, said the company has invested nearly Dh5.65 billion in the UAE real estate market and was keen to seize more opportunities in the country.

“The UAE real estate market in general and Dubai, in particular, is thriving… There is increasing demand from end users for new products.”

Al Mazaya, listed on the Dubai and Kuwait Stock Exchange, reported a 16.6 per cent growth in its profit in the first quarter 2015, compared with the same period last year and a 175 per cent increase in operating revenues generated from sale and lease operations.